The postponed Great Ethiopian Run on Sunday crowned Abe Gashaw for the men and Tsige Gebrselama for the women.
Gashaw and Gebrselama win Great Ethiopian Run
A crowd take selfies as Haile Gebreselassie salutes, founder of the event and retired long distance runner, during the 20th edition of the Great Ethiopian Run
-
Copyright © africanews
EDUARDO SOTERAS/AFP or licensors
Gashaw, 22, won the 10-kilometer race with 28:19, his second victory after his 2016 win.
For a large part of the race, he ran behind training partner and friend, Tadesse Worku but overtook in the final stretch.
Gashaw, a member of the Amhara Prisons Club, said he had prepared in a focused way for this race, choosing to stay in his home town of Debre Birhan (altitude 2,840m) and only coming to Addis Ababa in time for the athletes’ COVID-19 pre-race testing on Friday morning.
Gebrselama won the women's race in 32:32. Her victory comes after she narrowly missed out on first place two years ago due to misdirection in the race’s final 200M.
A total of 9000 participants took part in the mass races. It's far fewer than the last race last year when some 30,000 competed.
COVID-19 precautions were made this year and the race had been postponed for two months.
The race was staged in three waves set off at fifteen-minute intervals, everyone had their temperatures checked when arriving at the event.
Runners also had to wear masks before and after the 10k run.